Electronic transaction processing systems may utilize a payment card and a payment terminal. The payment card has a magnetic strip that is swiped at the payment terminal. The payment terminal reads payment information such as a credit card number from the magnetic strip and transmits the payment information along with information relating to the transaction to a remote transaction server. The remote transaction server determines whether the transaction is approved and provides a response to the payment terminal. Such electronic transaction processing systems have been found to be susceptible to fraud. For example, the magnetic strip of the payment card provides the credit card number to payment terminal without encryption, such that this information can be acquired from either the payment card or the payment terminal.
Payment techniques have been developed that reduce the possibility of fraudulent transactions. A Europay/Mastercard/Visa (“EMV”) system may be implemented with a passive electronic chip that is a component of the payment card. Power is provided to the passive electronic circuit by a payment terminal that either physically engages with the passive electronic circuit or that provides power by inductive coupling of a wireless carrier signal that is transmitted by the payment terminal. The passive electronic circuit of the payment card activates and communicates with the payment terminal via the physical interface or by modulation of the wireless carrier signal. Payment information is encrypted by the passive electronic circuit prior to transmission to the payment terminal.
Near field communication (“NFC”) systems facilitate the transfer of data between electronic devices such as smart phones, smart watches, and tablets. NFC payment systems have been implemented in which an electronic device communicates payment information with a payment terminal that provides a wireless carrier signal. The electronic device and payment terminal communicate by modulating the wireless carrier signal. As with EMV payment systems, the NFC-enabled device may transmit payment information to the payment terminal in encrypted form. A payment terminal that processes EMV or NFC payment transactions may include specialized software for processing transactions between a chip card or electronic device and a remote payment server.